It is widely accepted that the Shih
Tzu is descended from small dogs from Tibet, given as
gifts to the Chinese Emperors and bred with Chinese
dogs including the Pekinese. It was under the care and
direction of the Dowager Empress, Tzu Hsi, who came
into power in 1861 that the Shih Tzu developed into
the breed we know today.

In the Imperial Palace in Peking, the
Eunuchs were made responsible for the care and breeding
of the Shih Tzu. These shaggy little dogs became the
pampered darlings of the palace. The Empress insisted
that complete pedigrees and descriptions of physical
markings be kept for all dogs used for breeding and
for all puppies whelped within the household. For aesthetic
and religious reasons, parti-colors with perfect facial
markings and perfect saddle were held in high esteem
by the Empress, but solid colors were also prized by
her. In fact, the only known photograph of her with
any of her Shih Tzu is with a solid black male, one
of her favorites, who followed her everywhere from her
private apartments to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Tzu Hsi was wise to the laws of color
inheritance and knew the importance of the darker shades
of brindle, silver and black in maintaining pigmentation-of
eye color and coat color.

Because the Chinese considered the lion
symbolic of Buddha, and because of a centuries old awe
and respect for this most courageous of beasts, Chinese
dogs were bred to resemble the lion. As the lion was
not native to China, it is probable that sculptors carved
lions from descriptions they had received about the
beasts, and the dogs were bred to look like the statues
instead of the real thing, i.e.: flattened muzzles,
undershot bites, bowed legs (bowed legswere even intentionally
bred into the Pekingese and are a characteristic of
the breed!), protruding eyes, wrinkled faces, and fierce
expressions. The two breeds most lion-like in their
appearance are the Shih Tzu and the Pekingese. The eunuchs
vied with each other to breed the most perfectly lion-like
specimens.

The Empress jealously guarded her treasured
Shih Tzu and was loath to let any leave the Palace.
She entertained wives of ambassadors and diplomats for
political reasons, but feared and hated these "foreign
devils". She bestowed valuable gifts upon them
but in the beginning Shih Tzu were not among the gifts-
despite the interest the foreign ladies showed toward
the dogs.

However, in the early 1900's several
Shih Tzu were brought into Europe by returning diplomats.
Many of these original dogs died (it was rumored that
they were fed broken glass so as not to be bred outside
of the Imperial Palace).

After the death of the Empress in 1908
and the ascension of the new child Emperor, Pu Yi, the
fate of the dogs became tenuous. Many of the eunuchs
who had become expert breeders were dismissed and many
dogs were destroyed by fires in the Palace. It is also
speculated that many of the eunuchs took prize specimens
with them and sold them to Chinese noblemen and foreigners.

In the early 1930’s, several Shih
Tzu were imported into England and Scandinavia. Offspring
of these dogs were imported into the US and Canada.
On an interesting note, Elfreda Evans of Elfann Kennels
in England (a successful breeder of Pekingese), although
a newcomer to Shih Tzu, decided that the Shih Tzu in
England were too big and rangy and plain in the face,
so without so much as consulting any of the established
breeders, in 1952 she mated a Shih Tzu bitch to a Pekingese
dog who’s one ‘fault’ was straight
front legs. (At that time, the English Kennel Club permitted
the introduction of an outcross to another breed. The
4th generation from the outcross could be registered
as purebred. The American Kennel Club required several
more generations.) Twenty years later, the Pekingese
outcross was in practically every British line of Shih
Tzu.